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Seoul Winter '17 - Ep. 01 - Gukbap Dinner with Soo Zee & Leigh
In 2017, I decided to close my year in my favorite city. And so, on the last week of December, I arrived at Incheon International Airport on a cold clear winter morning and took the airport bus to the city. This was my fifth trip to Seoul this year and by now, the city almost feels like (a second) home to me.
First stop of the day was the hotel. Opted to stay at LOTTE City Hotel Guro (롯데시티호텔 구로) since I’ve had a pretty packed year of traveling and wanted to stay somewhere comfortable and familiar, especially during Seoul’s cold winter. Plus I’ve stayed here before and had a wonderful time during my previous visits so I came back again this time around.
The check-in process was a breeze. I was assisted by the same person who checked me in on my previous trip and she remembered me. That’s always a plus on my book. Since I arrived way earlier than the check-in time, I left my luggages with the receptionist and went to get some food.
Right next to the hotel is Guro G-Valley Plaza (구로G밸리비즈플라자), a medium sized shopping center with various tenants from restaurants, cafes, convenient stores and even doctor’s clinics and pharmacies. My first meal every time I’m back in Seoul is usually soup and rice. It’s a comfort food for me, especially after a red-eye flight with restless sleep on the plane. Something warm and hearty always made me feel better after. Plus it’s perfect with the cold weather outside.
I went to Han Chon Seolleongtang (한촌설렁탕 구로지밸리몰점) at Guro G-Valley Plaza to get exactly that. I ordered their Seolleongtang (설렁탕) set which comes with white rice and three banchans. It’s a simple warm meal but after finishing the whole bowl of thinly slice beef and milky broth, I felt a little more alive than I was before.
After lunch, I still have some time to kill so I went to Läderach (레더라) to get some dessert. Läderach is a Swiss chocolate and confectionary manufacturer and they have a couple of cafes open in Seoul. Soo Zee was the one who actually introduced me to the place. She took me here on one of our hangout session last spring because she likes their chocolate and after I tried it, I agree with her. I ordered their Swiss Classic Milk (스위스클래식 밀크) and sat there reading while waiting for my check-in time.
An hour or so later, I finally checked into my room. The room is spacious and clean, just like how I remembered it from my previous trips. The only difference this time was that they gave me complimentary wine and chocolate for my stay, which was a nice touch. I also requested for a microwave to be put in my room and they also accommodated my request which I really appreciate.
After I freshened up and rested for a bit, I headed out again in the late afternoon to meet up with Soo Zee and Leigh for dinner. Soo Zee and Leigh are also fans of gukbap (hot soup with rice) (국밥) and so when they suggested getting gukbap for dinner, (even though I just had rice and soup earlier today) I immediately agreed to it.
They took me to Ban Ryong San (반룡산), a popular gukbap restaurant near Seolleung station (선릉역). The name of the place is actually inspired by the name of a mountain near Hamheung, a city in North Korea, which is the hometown of the mother of the owner of the restaurant. The place wasn’t too big but it was pretty packed when we were there. There were quite a number of ahjussis eating at the place too which is always a good sign (it usually means the food is good if it’s popular among the older crowd).
We ordered their Garit Gukbap (가릿국밥), which apparently is a Hamheung specialty, and Wang Mandu (왕만두). Their Wang Mandu was, as the name suggest, huge and flavorful. Their Garit Gukbap comes with white rice that’s already put inside the soup, long shredded beef, white tofu, congealed ox blood, thinly-sliced egg crepe, and green onions. The broth is made from beef ribs and brisket. It’s the kind of broth that’s really flavorful and you don’t have to add anything into it to enjoy the dish. We really liked it and finished the whole thing until there’s no soup left in our bowls.
After dinner, we headed back together since we’re all going to the same direction. Even though we finished dinner quite late and rush hour suppose to have passed by now, we found ourselves (or maybe it was just me) getting squished in between people who was going back home the same time we did on the subway. Leigh didn’t really have a problem standing her ground since she was still leisurely holding her monitor while taking a call (talking about multitasking at its best) and so did Soo Zee. I was okay the first couple of stops but then more people came into the car and I was slowly getting squished by the people standing around me. At some point Soo Zee took a picture of me in my squished state because she found it funny (I do too after I saw the picture).
And that’s pretty much concluded my first day back in Seoul.
Hotel:
LOTTE City Hotel Guro • (롯데시티호텔 구로)
Address: 서울 구로구 디지털로 300 지밸리비즈플라자
Places:
Guro G-Valley Plaza • 구로G밸리비즈플라자
Address: 서울 구로구 디지털로 300
Restaurants:
Han Chon Seolleongtang • 한촌설렁탕 구로지밸리몰점
Address: 서울 구로구 디지털로 300 2층
Telephone: 02-6344-3950
Hours: Everyday 10:00-22:00
Ban Ryong San • 반룡산
Address: 서울 강남구 테헤란로78길 26 1층
Telephone: 02-3446-8966
Hours: Everyday 11:00-22:00
Cafes:
Läderach • 레더라
Note: Guro location is now closed. They have two other locations in Seoul.
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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 15 - Went for a ₩5,000 Korean Meal
Mar had a workshop today and it basically took the entire first half of our day. When we came back from the workshop, it was during mid-afternoon and we both were pretty spent. She was tired from learning all the new stuff from the workshop and I was tired from translating the stuff she was learning during the workshop. So, we decided to have a break/nap time before going out again for dinner.
After Mar woke up from her nap, we went out to look around the restaurants around the neighborhood. We weren’t really sure what we want to have for dinner to be honest but when we passed by this one restaurant that has meals with rice, soup and banchan (백반) on their menu, we wanted to try it. Well, I’m always down for eating rice and soup and Mar wanted to try it mainly because of the cheap price of the meal. I mean, getting all the things pictured on the banner in front of the restaurant for just ₩5,000 (≈$4) per person is a pretty good deal.
So we went in and was eager to order and eat (especially since we haven’t had any proper lunch yet and it was like 5 pm in the afternoon, so we’re pretty hungry). But then when we went in, nobody was there. The lights and TV were on and everything but not one person was in sight. We even waited for 5 minutes or so hoping that the owner or the server of the restaurant would appear but nobody showed up. So after a while, we left and decided to look for another place to eat.
Mar was suggesting that we should go get Naengmyeon (냉면) near the restaurant we went to with our friends the first day we were here. But neither of us remembered what the restaurant name was and how to get there. After walking around for a while and saw nothing that really interest us, we decided to go back to the first restaurant and try our luck the second time. And what do you know. This time, the owner was inside and we can finally have our meal.
We ordered 2 servings of the sundubu (순두부찌개) and they came with two bowls of rice, two pieces of fried fish and 12 different banchan that you can ask for more if you want seconds. The ahjumma gave us free fried eggs too which was really nice of her. We also got to talk with her for a bit when we were having our meal. She was wondering what are foreigners like us doing in this neighborhood since the area is not exactly a tourist spot. I told her that we’re visiting our friends who live around here and she nodded in understanding at that.
Anyway, for ₩5,000, I’d say this was a pretty good meal. The food tasted like a home-cooked meal for sure and it was really fulfilling. We even ended up walking around for a while after our meal because we were so stuffed before finally going back home.
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Seoul Spring '17 - Ep. 14 - Easter Sunday at Garosugil
We had a pretty chill day at Garosugil for Easter Sunday. We went for Sunday service and then decided to just hang out at Basilur, a cafe that sold mainly teas and desserts. It's actually one of my favorite spot in Garosugil because their milk teas and desserts were good. The cafe was also pretty spacious and occupied the second and third floor of a building with big windows that overlook the intersection in front of the Village 11 Factory shop. It's like the perfect spot for afternoon tea while you people watch. (Sadly the place has now closed due to the pandemic.)
After the sun has set, we made our way back to the subway station. We stopped by a kimbap place to buy some to take away for our dinner and then finally headed home.
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